In data image processing, it is sometimes necessary to perform a frame rate conversion. For example, a video may be recorded at a frequency of 24 Hertz (Hz), but a display that will be utilized to display the video may operate at a different frequency, such as 50 or 60 Hz. In order to properly display this video, frame rate conversion, which may include computing intermediate frames, is sometimes employed.
With the advent of high definition (HD) video, and HD liquid crystal displays (LCDs), the utilization of frame rate conversion becomes even more important. Since LCDs are often backlit by cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs), they are lit more continuously than a traditional cathode ray tube (CRT), which utilizes a stroboscopic method of lighting the screen. Because a video image displayed on an LCD that is continuously backlit may appear blurry to a human eye, frame rate conversion based on motion compensation may be employed to correct this.
Currently, this may be performed by storing a video image input data in a memory where it can be extracted and have video processing performed upon it. However, current systems for video processing store image data with high precision, even though some aspects of the video processing system do not require high precision processing. For example, an HD video signal may require 10 bits to create a suitably accurate representation of each image for high quality reproduction. However some aspects of the video processing system may only require 8 bits of image precision in order to perform satisfactorily. It would therefore be beneficial to provide a method and apparatus that could efficiently store and process a image data signal with both high precision and lower precision.